Gov. Jay Nixon vetoes ‘right-to-work’ bill, sponsor ‘disappointed’

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has made good on his intent to veto the “right-to-work” bill that came out of the legislative session that ended last month.

Union members filled the hall outside the Senate Hearing on the “right-to-work” bill, May 11, 2015.

Nixon says the bill would lower wages for Missouri workers, weaken the state’s economy, and doesn’t like that it would subject businesses who violate its provisions to civil and criminal liability.

“Right-to-work is wrong for Missouri, it’s wrong for the middle-class, and it must never become the law of the Show-Me State,” Nixon said in a statement following the announcement of the veto.

The House sponsor of that bill called the governor’s action “disappointing.” Representative Eric Burlison of Springfield argues the “right-to-work” policy would benefit workers and the state.

“People’s salaries are growing faster in the states that are right-to-work that border Missouri. People’s salaries are growing faster in all of the right-to-work states, versus the non-right-to-work states,” Burlison told Missourinet.

He and other supporters argue more businesses would come to Missouri if his bill would become law.

“The question I’d ask [Governor Nixon] is, what’s his answer? How do we fix Missouri? What’s his answer to how we return Missouri to be a place where companies want to come and hire union workers?” said Burlison.

The bill did not pass the state House or the Senate with the votes that would be needed to overturn Nixon’s veto. In the House it fell short by 17 votes, in the Senate it was short by two, with some Republicans in both chambers splitting from their party to vote against it.

House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) told Missourinet last month he would talk with the members of his caucus and assess whether there is support for attempting an override.